From giant sharks with rows full of teeth to 2,000 pound snakes, here are 10 of the
most amazing historical creatures ever!
10.)
Dunkleosteus The dunkleosteus lived over 350 million years
ago, during the Devonian period.
This sea creature had a powerful bite and could open its mouth quickly, even though
it was known to be a very slow-moving prehistoric fish.
In fact, scientists believe that the dunkleosteus could bite down with thousands of pounds of
force.
On top of that, dunkleosteus could create a vacuum with its mouth, which meant that
it did not have to be really close in order to eat its prey.
It would open its mouth and just suck in whatever was in range.
The dunkleosteus had an armored texture and was a little over 30 feet long.
It weighed between three to four tons and would be an extremely dangerous fish if it
had managed to survive to today.
While the dunkleosteus was found in the 1800s, the creature was not named until 1956, when
it was named after David Dunkle, who was curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology at the Cleveland
Museum of Natural History.
It is believed that the dunkleosteus became extinct due to a lack of oxygen in the ocean.
9.)
Phorusrhacid The phorusrhacid was known as the “terror
bird” and considered to be the largest bird in history.
These birds were first discovered during the 19th century in South America.
These “terror birds” are said to have lived anywhere from 62 to almost 2 million
years ago.
The most recent discovery of a phorusrhacid bird occurred in Argentina several years ago
and was about 15 million years old.
The birds ranged anywhere from 3-9 feet tall (1-3 m) and had a very impressive beak length,
at about 18 inches (0.5 m) and looked like an eagle’s beak.
In the most recent find, a well-preserved skull and foot bones were found.
Through analysis, scientists believe that the phorusrhacid could move very quickly.
Researchers also believe that the it had a very flexible neck, which would have allowed
it to support its big head and strike at prey quite easily.
8.)
Saccorhytus Coronarius China is the home of what some call the “oldest
human ancestor,” the saccorhytus coronarius.
While this may not make much sense at first, they are classified as deuterostomes, a diverse
group of vertebrates.
Since this animal is said to have lived about 540 million years ago, during the early Cambrian
Period, this means that it is the the earliest known deuterostomes to date – and as a result,
they are our oldest relatives.
It’s up to you on whether you agree with that or not.
The saccorhytus coronarius was tiny, only about a millimeter in size, but it looked
pretty frightful.
It had a large round mouth, with eight openings and looked like a sac but had no anus.
Because of the size of its mouth in comparison to its body, researchers believe that the
creature would have eaten food particles, if not other species.
The body was covered with a thin layer of flexible skin and muscles, which would have
helped it move by wiggling.
The creature was analyzed through an expert team of researchers from a few different universities:
the University of Cambridge in the UK, the University of Kassel in Germany, Northwest
University in the States, and the University of Geosciences and Xi’an Shiyou University
in China.
A lot of people are obsessed with this little guy!!
In their study, which was published in the January 2017 issue of the journal, Nature,
the researchers agreed that one of the most fascinating things about the saccorhytus coronarius
is how it would have released its waste, because there was no proof of an anus.
According to the researchers, this means the waste would have had to come out the same
way it went in.
Food for thought.
7.)
Titanoboa Titanoboa was a slithery giant snake that
lived over 60 million years ago, during the middle to late Paleocene Period.
Pieces of the titanoboa’s vertebrae was found in the Cerrejón Formation of the coal
mines in La Guajira, Colombia.
The snake was discovered by a team of scientists lead by Jonathan Bloch, who works at the University
of Florida as a vertebrate paleontologist and Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist who
works for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
The titanoboa was measured to be close to 50 feet and weighed in at about 2,000 pounds.
This historic creature was known to be the largest snake to ever exist, being almost
double the length of the world’s giant snake today, the giant anaconda, and about 1,500
pounds (681 kg) heavier.
The thickest part of the snake’s body was nearly as high as a man’s waist.
It thrived in hot and humid climates, so Florida would have been perfect!
Jonathan Bloch believes that the titanoboa his team found was not even fully grown!
In 2012, the titanoboa starred in its own documentary, Titanoboa: The Monster Snake,
on the Smithsonian Channel.
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6.)
Cameroceras The cameroceras was first discovered by Timothy
Conrad while paleontology was still early in the game during the mid-1800s.
The creature was believed to be the largest of the orthocone cephalopods, which is ‬a
type of mollusk that includes the octopus.
It is said to have lived over 400 million years ago during the Ordovician Period.
The cameroceras had several tentacles, which would have been used to capture prey and as
feelers.
A hard keratinous beak was said to have been at the base of the tentacles, which would
have been used to catch its prey by biting into the bodies.
The cameroceras was an odd shape, having its head in the opening of a hard cone-like shell,
which housed the main body.
Scientists who have studied the creature believe that it could have grown up to 20 feet in
length.
Maybe sailors in a distant past saw one of these creatures that survived and thought
it was the Kraken!
5.)
Hurdia Victoria While quite small, measuring only about half
a meter, the hurdia victoria is known to be more of a monster-like creature.
It lived about 500 million years ago in the Cambrian Period, being first described in
the early 1900s.
The hurdia is said to have had a large head for its size, with a pair of spiny claws and
several teeth within its round jaw.
It also had a large three-part shell that projected out from the front of its head.
Weird, huh?
Analysis shows that the hurdia’s body was also covered in gills.
It gained the reputation of a little monster because it’s body parts were often assigned
to other animals.
Once scientists put it together as its own species, they realized it kind of looked like
a little monster.
Pieces of the hurdia are housed at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, where it has been
reconstructed and studied.
4.)
Arthropleura
Today, the arthropleura is thought to be one of the largest bugs to ever roam the earth.
National Geographic calls it “the largest land-roaming bug of all time!”
This giant bug lived about 320 to 299 million years ago during the late Carboniferous Period.
The arthropleura was discovered and named in the mid-19th century.
Through all of the fossilized evidence that exists today on it, no mouth has ever been
found, which makes scientists believe that it did not have a strong bite.
However, fossilized tracks from the arthropleura were found in Nova Scotia, which showed how
it could move about quickly while avoiding obstacles.
It is believed the arthropleura ranged in length from 1-7 ft (0.3-2.1 m) with a width
of up to 1.5 ft (0.5 m).
Arthropleura was said to have had about thirty sets of legs with a long, flat body.
It is believed that it was a plant based eater, and may have become extinct due to a lack
of oxygen.
Once the oxygen levels decreased, the arthropleura couldn’t support its large size and, therefore,
the creature would have evolved to a smaller size and/or die out completely.
3.)
Hallucigenia Considered one of Nature’s more bizarre
creatures, the hallucigenia was named by Simon Conway Morris in 1977.
Based on fossils we knew that it had a tube-like shape but until recently, all fossils were
missing their heads and they were always described upside down!!
One side of its body was covered in enormous spines, and the other side had flimsy, claw-like
appendages.
Researchers believe that the creature used these claws to protect itself from its prey,
in case it decided to attack.
Today, researchers know the hallucigenia would have walked on its tentacles.
However, when the hallucigenia was first explained, it was shown that the worm-like bug walked
on the spines and had one set of tentacles.
It wasn’t until Simon Conway Morris noticed the second set of tentacles, which confirmed
that the original version of the hallucigenia was upside down.
When new specimens were found in Canada, they finally found a fossil with a complete head
with a tiny pair of eyes and a cheeky smile staring back at them!
Inside its mouth, there was a ring of teeth and then another set of teeth from its throat
to its stomach!
All in all, it was a great day for the scientists!
2.)
Quetzalcoatlus The Quetzalcoatlus was one of the largest
known flying animals in history and lived during the late Cretaceous period in North
America.
The Quetzalcoatlus was first named in 1975 after the mythical Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl.
The Quetzalcoatlus was a very large bird which weighed about 250-300 pounds (113 kg-136 kg)
- however more recent reports say that the bird could have weighed around 400 pounds
(181 kg) ! It was about 18 ft (5.5 m) long, and had a wingspan of around 30 feet (9 m)
or more.
While the Quetzalcoatlus was known to be a gigantic bird-like animal, scientists are
not sure if this bird even flew at all.
There are reports that say if the Quetzalcoatlus did fly, it would have had to use both its
front and back legs to take off while other scientists believe that the gigantic bird
was actually too large to fly.
1.)
Megalodon Today, the megalodon is categorized as an
extinct shark.
According to studies, the megalodon went extinct about 2.5 million years ago but lived during
the Early Miocene to the end of the Pliocene periods.
The megalodon was thought to be the biggest shark ever, with the strongest bite.
The length of the Megalodon was said to be anywhere from 40 to 70 feet (12-21 m).
Scientists believe that the megalodon looked similar to the Great White Shark but the jaws
would have been wider and the fins would have been thicker.
Not much has been found relating to the Megalodon except for some of the shark’s teeth, which
measured at about 7 inches.
Scientists believe that the Megalodon had a couple hundred teeth in rows of about 4
to 5.
The Megalodon’s teeth also suggested that the shark would have eaten larger prey, which
would have been about the size of dolphins.
Scientists believe that because the Megalodon ate such large prey, there became a competition
with food which essentially, led to the Megalodon’s extinction.
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